Sometimes, social media can be used as a crisis management tool even when the crisis didn’t get its start in social media. Case in point, JetBlue CEO Dave Neeleman’s public apology via YouTube for the major screwup at JFK that left one group of passengers stranded on the tarmac for 10 ½ hours.
“There are a couple thing you can do [when challenges come your way],” said Neeleman in his video. “You can ignore it and pretend like it was an aberration. Or you can do an examination and determine if there’s something you can do internally to make sure that it never happens again.”
It’s hard to get out there and admit you’re wrong. That’s why it’s so rare that someone at the top of an organization apologizes.
As Hal Halladay wrote:
I have been delayed before and been stuck on the tarmac in a plane on other airlines. While my experience was not 10 ½ hours, I never received an apology from the CEO or any payment for my inconvenience.
Problems like this are a bit like finding a bomb that’s about to go off. You can either back off and let the bomb go off and do a lot of damage, or you can take a risk, bring in the S.W.A.T. team and explode the bomb under controlled circumstances. Yes, there’s still an explosion, but the damage is much less severe and long-lasting.
Neeleman did the latter, and it was exactly the right thing. It demonstrates his integrity and I admire him for it.
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